


Sanctuary

by olyoxenfree



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AgentReign, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Bisexual Lena Luthor, F/F, Fluff, Lesbian Kara Danvers, Slow Burn, SuperCorp, a little Kara/James and Lena/Jack in the beginning - again sorry, basically every one is a little sad and a lot gay and they all end up at the same vacation resort, i had a dream and it forced me to write this i'm sorry, love ensues because duh, you gotta get through the sad breakup angst to get to the two - or four - idiots in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-03-17 04:40:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18958057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olyoxenfree/pseuds/olyoxenfree
Summary: Kara finally bid farewell to the closet, Lena's been coerced into finally taking a break, Alex has a new hobby, & Sam is just here for the inevitable gayness.Vacation AUish





	1. Chapter 1

_“Stop, stop! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry James I just can’t.”_

Kara squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the spots appearing under her eyelids would somehow chase the memory away. It’s been three weeks and she still couldn’t get the look James gave her that night out of her head. Three weeks and she hasn’t been able to turn in a single article, three weeks and she hasn’t seen James since his “business trip” to Japan. 

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Her and James were supposed to be happy. They were supposed to be looking at wedding venues, picking dates, & generally being as obnoxiously in love to the point that their friends didn’t want to be within 50 feet of them.

But when have things ever been easy for one Kara Danvers?

Kara and James were together for just under 2 years. They were, as everyone liked to point out to them, inevitable. James was Clark’s best friend. He was the one to push the assistant position for Cat Grant in her direction. He was one of the founding members of the “Superfriends” as dubbed by Winn. He was one of the only people outside of Alex that she trusted implicitly. 

So of course they ended up together, how could they not? It was so easy with the way he looked at her. Easy. Everything was easy with him. She could love him. She really could. It would be easy…

Not even the fact that she was a giant lesbian was of consequence. Spoiler Alert: it absolutely was.

Ever since Kara’s parents died in a freak accident that left her virtually untouched, she clung to normalcy. Normal meant the whispers would go away. Normal meant Alex would stop looking at her funny. Normal meant she wouldn’t break like Eliza and Jeremiah seemed to think she was liable to. Normal would make it easier for Clark to talk to her when he actually came to visit.

Being gay was not normal. 

At least that was what she gathered from how the kids at her new school treated the only known “out” kid in Midvale.

So, normal. She could do that. Even if it meant that she couldn’t think that Shelby Jefford’s new haircut made her look like a younger Halle Berry. Not that Halle Berry was… Anyways. Normal.

Kenny was her first kiss - normal. Rick was her first real boyfriend in college - normal. Her being jealous when she met James’ ex Lucy was normal. It was irrelevant that she may have been jealous of James and not Lucy…

It was fine. Everything was progressing normally. She got promoted to a journalist after working under Cat for a few years and James was going to propose -a fact she knew due to Winn’s complete inability to keep a secret. Things were great. Normal.

And then Alex came out. 

Suddenly her concept of normal started to change, simply because nothing else did. Alex didn’t change, the Superfriends’ acceptance of her didn’t change, not even Eliza changed. She gave Alex the longest hug in all of Kara’s memory but that was it. Everything was… normal. Except now Alex was happier than Kara’s ever seen her. She drank less, she frowned less, she was generally more open with everyone. 

The entire paradigm of what normal was to Kara shifted. Honestly the word normal was starting to lose meaning. Literally and figuratively. 

It was as if her forced heterosexuality was thrown out the window along with the word normal.

And she felt free. A year and a half after Alex came out Kara found herself laying in bed alone. James had a meeting in San Francisco and wouldn’t be back until the next night. She could no longer ignore the forcibly dormant part of herself. She felt free for the first time since the night she went for a car ride with her parents. 

She found herself wondering if Shelby Jefford grew into her Halle Berry-esque looks. She started thinking about what would have happened if instead of running, -right into Rick- she would’ve stayed and talked to the girl who was overtly flirting with her at that college party. She wondered what would have happened if she was single when Lucy came to town… 

Then she rolled over and caught the faint smell of James on the pillow next to her and the weight of every decision she made in the pursuit of normal crashed into her. 

James.

She was going to break his heart. Normal was out the window, probably splattered on a curb somewhere, and she could only imagine James’ heart splattered alongside it. 

She carried on with James for two more months after that night, impending proposal completely forgotten. Call it guilt, call it a desperate last ditch cling to normal. Whatever it was, Kara couldn’t pull it together enough to end it. She could only blame herself for what happened on her birthday.

\--

“Stop, stop! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry James I just can’t.”

James stopped talking, one knee on the floor, mouth frozen mid speech about his great love for one Kara Danvers.

They were at Kara’s birthday dinner. James bought out the restaurant with his new CEO salary. 

“What’s the point of being CEO if you can’t spoil the love of your life?” He reasoned after Kara had asked him not to spend so much on her. Kara could only give him a tight smile and a thin excuse to hightail it out of his office that day.

Their family and friends were almost as frozen as James, looking back and forth between him and Kara with slowly dropping smiles on their faces. Alex took it upon herself to lower Winn’s arms that were still holding up James’ DSLR. 

Kara hadn’t yet been able to look away from James’ slowly blurring face. Her tears were gathering but not yet falling.

“I’m so sorry James,” she repeated. “I just- can we talk about… I just need to-.” Kara’s throat was quickly being taken over by a lump, rendering her speech nearly unintelligible. She cast a desperate glance at Alex who, bless her, understood immediately and ushered everyone out of their seats and to the front of the restaurant. There was nothing but a wall between the guests and the dining area and with the pressing silence that seemed to envelope the building, it was almost guaranteed that they would hear everything that was said. But Kara still appreciated the semblance of privacy it offered.

She looked back at James who had -thankfully- shut the ring box and stowed it back in his suit. It seemed that was the extent he would move as he was still on his knee staring at precisely nothing over Kara’s shoulder. 

“James,” Kara reached out towards him, her hand stopping just shy of his shoulder.

James snapped his eyes back to Kara and she could feel the pure confusion radiating from him.

“Kara what-,” he seemed to take stock of exactly what his body was still doing and quickly scrambled back into the chair next to Kara.

He grabbed her hand so gently that Kara’s heart broke just that much more for him. This would be so much easier if he was an asshole. Or he had chronic bad breath. Or _something_.

“Kara what’s wrong. I thought- is this not what you wanted? I figured you knew I was going to propose. Winn is the worst secret keeper...” He almost had a half smile going by the end of his sentence. “And I thought because of these last few months we were on the same page. Did I- did I get this wrong?” The smile twitching at his mouth completely flatlined and his eyes showed nothing but confusion and soft concern directed at her.

Hearing James stumble when he was usually so confident with his words only served to push the weight of sorrow more solidly down on Kara’s shoulders. She blinked and finally let the first tear of many fall down her cheek, which of course James caught with a gentle thumb. Maybe normal wouldn’t be so bad…

“I’m gay!” Kara blurted, stunned by the visceral rejection to even the thought of shoving herself back in her “normal” box.

James thumb froze right on the crest of her cheek. She could imagine everyone on the other side of the wall freezing in much the same way. This was not supposed to happen like this.

“I’m so so so sorry James,” she rushed out. “This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you. I- It’s supposed to be you. How could it not? You’ve been nothing but perfect to me and- and…” 

Kara took a deep breath and continued in a more measured tone, despite the deluge of tears steadily running down her face.

“James, I love you. And if things had been different… if I had been different everything would be perfect. But it’s not. I can’t- I can’t love you the way you deserve to be loved. You deserve so much more and this is the very last way I wanted all of this to... come out.” Had her life been a sitcom, she would’ve rolled her eyes at her character’s poor word choice.

It wasn’t enough. Kara would never have enough words to express to James how sorry she was, how deep her feelings ran for him, how thorough her denial and repression was.

James slowly retracted both the hand on her face and the one wrapped around her own.

“How long?” He looked about a half step away from bolting out of the restaurant, as if it was getting unbearable to even be in the same space as Kara.

“What-”

“How long have you known Kara?” His voice was controlled but his eyes were almost wild, searching her face as if trying to find the Kara he thought had entered the restaurant with him.

“I guess I’ve always known...” James eyes seemed to get impossibly wider. “But I promise everything is a lot more complicated and- and it wasn’t until recently that I realized I couldn’t con- continue to...”

“You couldn’t continue to love me.”

“No!” Yes. “Not exactly. I’ll always love you James, but the way you need me to, the way I convinced myself I could just isn’t possible. Please I- I never wanted to hurt you.” James scoffed and looked away, leaning back in his chair. “But I can’t keep lying to you, to everyone I love, to myself.” Kara got up from her chair and started pacing next to the table. It was almost as if she was unable to contain the light feeling inside of her threatening to overtake the heaviness of the moment. James still didn’t look at her.

“It’s been so long, I almost forgot how it felt to not hide behind what I thought was normal. I forgot how bogus the idea of ‘normal’ is anyways.” She chanced a glance at James who had all but frozen with his gaze locked on an indeterminate spot across the restaurant. 

“For the first time since I was 13, I feel like I can finally be me. And I’m scared. Good scared I think. And it’s like, I’m not sure what comes next.”

Her pacing slowed to a stop. “Holy crap I’m gay...” It was only the second time in her life she had said it. The awe in her voice was very clearly a reflection of the bubbling feeling inside of her that was screaming _finally!_

James suddenly sprung up from the table and half turned away from her. Kara startled, half of her had forgot James was still in the room.

“I-.” 

Kara could see his jaw working, trying to force something more out. Instead he clicked his mouth shut, jaw tight, and walked out of the restaurant, never once looking back at her.

Kara must have sat at that table for an eternity, or 30 minutes, before Alex came and gently coerced her into a cab and back to her apartment.

\--

Kara’s coming out had been overshadowed by the pain of breaking someone’s heart. Everytime she started to feel giddy about it she remembered James walking out of the restaurant.

“You have a big heart,” Alex had told her after the third night of pizza and potstickers did nothing to improve her sad state. “That’s why everything seems to suck right now. You never wanted to break his heart.” She set down her beer after taking a hearty gulp and turned to look at her sister who seemed dead set on turning into a blanket blob.

“But Kar-” she reached into the depths of the blanket blob to find and squeeze Kara’s hand. “This is a _good_ thing. Don’t let what happened overshadow that. I’m so proud of you and eventually you’ll realize you did what was best for both of you.”

Kara gave her sister a watery smile, though she doubted Alex could tell due to only one eyeball peeking through her blanket sanctuary.

But still, Kara was in a slump. James went on what was supposed to be a 5 day business trip to Japan and she hasn’t seen him since. That was almost three weeks ago. She knows through his sister that he was okay. Well, he was alive. Her attempts to reach out to him had been as unsuccessful as her attempts to write an article. She was starting to worry she would get fired soon if she didn’t turn in something that didn’t reek of melancholy. She was even kicked off the Lena Luthor article that she’d been looking forward to.

Lena had made the move from Metropolis to National City and Kara was looking forward to interviewing the woman who, in the last few years, turned LuthorCorp from a cesspool of evil practices to L Corp, the force for good it became. Instead the article had been given to Mike, the fratboy wannabe that constantly hit on her even when she was very publicly with James. 

Kara was well on her way to spending another afternoon debating if she should send James another email or google if carrier pigeons were still a thing when she heard a sharp “Ponytail!” from across the bullpen. Sighing internally, Kara dragged herself out of her chair and made her way to Snapper. 

Snapper Carr hasn’t had a pleasant word to utter to Kara for weeks. Which usually isn’t anything out of the ordinary, except now there was a distinct lack of reluctant respect attached to his usual gruffness. She knew whatever he had to say to her would undoubtedly steeped in more disdain.

“You called, Snapper?” She tried -and failed- to affect her usual cheerful demeanor.

“I’m sending you on an assignment,” he told her, peering over his glasses with a displeased look on his face.

“A what?” 

Whatever she thought he was going to say this was far from it, she hasn’t been on an assignment in 2 weeks.

“An assignment. You know, the thing real journalists take on to do their jobs,” The sarcasm in his tone was complimented with a heavy eyeroll.

“Yes I know what an assignment is. What I meant was-” She paused and made her way more solidly into his office. “Where are you sending me boss?” 

“The Sanctuary,” he said.

“The Sanc-”

“Cat Grant apparently wants to revamp the vacation column of CatCo and she specifically requested that you write the first article,” he continued, bulldozing her obvious confusion. “The Sanctuary is a new private resort off the coast some miles north of here and she wants you to go and write an article on it.” Snapper took off his glasses and just stared at her, waiting for her to absorb her new assignment.

“Wait wait wait wait. Ok so- Gosh… Cat Grant wants me to write a glorified Yelp review on a resort on a beach…?” Kara stared right back at Snapper. The other shoe was sure to drop any second now.

“Yes. Now you’re supposed to leave in a week.”

“Wait, Snapper-”

“Everything has been booked already, the details should already be sent to your email.”

“How long am I supposed to stay??” Kara was nearly spluttering, the flush of confusion coloring her cheeks.

“I just said the details are in your email, Ponytail! Did your hearing go out with your writing ability? Now get out of my office and for the love of god write me something that doesn’t make me wanna pull out the remainder of my dwindling hair!”

Kara snapped her mouth shut and, as if on autopilot, turned her heel and made her way back to her desk. She didn’t notice the slight smirk on Snapper’s face as he slid his glasses back on and returned to his editorial duties.

Sure enough, sitting in her inbox was a flight itinerary and the resort reservation, complete with a suite overlooking the ocean and some key points Cat apparently wanted highlighted for the column.

Kara let out a slow breath and looked out into the bullpen at her fellow journalists hard at work. She knew none of this was normal. She was being sent out on what is basically a paid vacation after _weeks_ of subpar performance. Cat Grant absolutely had everything to do with this. But you know what they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth and all that. So she pushed her incredulity to the side and picked up her phone to call Alex.

\--

Alex was well on her way to having a heart attack before she ever saw 40 if the speed her heart was pumping was anything to go by.

But she was finally feeling _something_. For the first time in months she was feeling something other than alternating between anger and numbness ever since Maggie left.

She felt lighter and heavier at the same time and the dichotomy of feeling was almost sending her into a giggle fit underneath her motorcycle helmet.

The feeling of her phone vibrating deep in her jeans pocket sobered her quickly. That vibrate pattern meant a call from Kara. Kara didn’t know Alex’s new… hobby. Or the reason she picked it up in the first place. She couldn’t even imagine the look on her sister’s face when she told her she’d been-

 _Zzzz zz zz zzzz_.

Okay Kara was being persistent today. 

“Hey Kara I’m just about heading into the Bureau so keep it quick,” Alex said into the phone, having picked up on Kara’s third call just as she parked her bike.

“Alex! ALEX! You are not gonna believe this! So Snapper called me to his office and obviously I’m like, oh boy, this isn't gonna be good, when is it ever right? But I’m thinking it’s gonna be even worse because.. Well you know.. I’ve been kinda.. Anyways! I go into his office and he’s telling me about a vacation column or something. Did you know CatCo has a vacation column? I’ve worked here for years and didn’t know that! So he’s basically like go take a vacation and write about it and I know Cat had something to do with it. Did you call her? Of course you didn’t, you don’t have Cat Grant’s phone number. But now we’re going on a vacation okay! You’ll come with me right? You have to cause I can’t go by myself I already don’t deserve anything like this. After how I hurt Ja- James…” Kara finally stopped talking after stumbling and faltering at the end. 

After a few moments Alex actually absorbed everything her sister rambled out at her. Kara hasn’t rambled or been this animated since her birthday dinner and it caught her off guard.

“Kara… what??”

“I know, I know Alex! It’s crazy right! But I figured we both need to get away considering everything and this is the perfect opportu-”

“Kara,” Alex cut her off before she got her momentum going again. “I have to go into the office but I’ll call you back and we can talk all about this, okay? It makes me really happy to hear you so excited about something. And you deserve a vacation!”

“No WE deserve a vac-”

But Alex had just spotted her partner and consequently checked out of the conversation. “Right, right I’ll call you back Kara love you bye.” She hung up just as her partner got to her car.

“Diaz! Hey Diaz! Hold on!” she shouted across the parking lot. 

Her partner turned towards her at the call of her name and once she spotted who was calling gave an exasperated but fond eye roll.

“Again, Danvers? I swear you’re here now more than before your suspension.” A smirk threatened to appear through her near-permanent scowl.

“What? No love for your partner?” 

Diaz sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “My partner is supposed to be suspended. Seriously Danvers, you’re pushing your luck by constantly showing up here.”

“Yeah, I just... left something important in my locker.” A flimsy excuse at best, but she figured she could get her partner to drop a tiny update on the case they had been working before her foot met the kneecap of a man they were interrogating. Today was the first day she caught her away from any of the other agents.

“Alex,” Diaz sighed. She dropped her arms and placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Go home dude. Take care of yourself. Use this time to work through some of your… stuff. Then come back ready to continue kicking ass. Got it?”

Alex’ jaw clenched under the obvious dismissal. With a quick glance at the front of the building she sighed and stiffly nodded. 

Diaz pulled her into a rare hug and murmured, “We need you here Danvers, but we need you at 100%. So don’t come back without the baddass we all know and slightly tolerate. But with slightly less violent tendencies.”

“Ha, got it, Rosa” Alex said, pulling away. 

Rosa gave her a quick almost-smile and continued on to her car.

Alex gave the Bureau one last look before heading back to her motorcycle. Just before she revved the engine up she realized something.

“Cat Grant sent Kara on a vacation??”

\--

“It’s an all expense paid resort package. We get a suite overlooking the ocean and a list of activities to do. Pleeaase come with me. I know you have at least 30 days of PTO saved up come on.”

Kara had started talking as soon as Alex opened her apartment door, not even stopping her plea as she give her sister a hug and set the food she brought down on the coffee table. By the end of her mini speech the puppy dog eyes were in full effect.

“Slow down Kara, put the puppy dog eyes away I haven’t even said anything either way!”

Kara squealed and wrapped her sister up in a bear hug.

“If it’s not an immediate no it’s a yes!”

Through a wince Alex couldn’t help but laugh exasperatedly as she detangled herself from Kara.

“Okay, I’m up for it.” She moved around Kara, who was practically vibrating, hoping to both avoid another crushing hug and get first dibs on the food before Kara’s attention was called back to it. She didn’t think she could survive another Kara hug with the current state her ribs were in...

After leaving the Bureau she had thought through the bizarre scenario Kara had gushed at her and she figured it was the perfect time to figure her… stuff out as Diaz had said.

Besides, seeing Kara this excited again was enough to use all her PTO days, if she wasn’t already suspended that is…

Kara squealed -again- and went to wrap Alex up in another hug. “We’re gonna have so much fun!” 

Alex held up her hand, halting Kara’s movement. “If you make me drop this potsticker I’m not going with you anymore.” 

“I looked up the place,” Kara continued, Alex’s deadpan expression not deterring her excitement in the slightest. She shifted her trajectory from an attempt to hug Alex to sit on the couch and grab her own pile of potstickers. “It’s really gorgeous according to the pictures posted on their website. It just opened a few months ago and we’ll be there just before the swing of vacation season so it won’t be terribly crowded. Not that it would ever be. I think it’s supposed to be some type of getaway for those snooty rich types.” She paused to stuff a potsticker and some noodles into her mouth at once. “We moot be abool to shee shum dulphins too!” she said, cheeks stuffed full of food. 

Alex sat on the couch next to her and just laughed poking at Kara’s cheeks and getting slapped away in return. She really missed hanging out with her sister like this. She’d kind of been avoiding Kara. Her sister didn’t know about her… stuff, and Alex couldn’t bring herself to tell her.

“You know what, Kara. I think this trip is exactly what we need,” she said, smiling fondly at her favorite food vacuum.

Kara beamed, cheeks still full. “I fink so too!”

Alex just laughed and grabbed her remote, content to have a night of Netflix with her sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

“Yes Mr. Adenuga we should have the licenses for both the software programs used and the parts needed to construct the prototype drawn up before close of business this Thursday.” Lena looked up from her laptop as her office door was opened to reveal her best friend and CFO brandishing a food bag in front of her as she made her way into the office. 

“You’re a life saver,” Lena mouthed.

Sam smiled and motioned to the couch in the corner of the office, indicating she was going to set the food up.

“Mmh.. Of course. It’s always a pleasure doing business with you. I’ll follow up with you on Thursday… Okay. You too. Goodbye.”

“Mr. Adenuga was always the most pleasant of your brother’s business affiliates. I wonder why he ever worked with Lex in the first place,” Sam wondered before sticking a sweet potato french fry in her mouth.

“Lex is a lot of things, but he’s not a complete idiot. He knows a good business relationship when he sees one.” Lena made her way over to the couch and sat down in front of the plate Sam laid out for her. “Unfortunately most of those relationships were with illegal weapons dealers but I digress.” 

“Illegal weapons dealers, highly paid escorts, an Irish drug cartel, yeah Lex’s relationship were all top tier,” Sam said, a cheeky grin playing on her lips.

Lena flicked a cherry tomato at Sam’s unsuspecting face, earning an indignant, “Lena!”

“I don’t pay you to enumerate Lex’s many… colorful choices.” Lena laughed at the still indignant expression on Sam’s face and speared another tomato. 

Sam scoffed, “No of course not. You pay me to bring you lunch and pretend to work.”

“I sincerely hope you actually looked over the contracts with Lord Tech I sent you this morning.” Lena fixed her best friend with a disapproving look.

“Yeah yeah Maxwell Lord is cheap, you should absolutely up the closing cost by 20% or the cost-benefit swings a little too close for comfort in his favor, and whoever drew up the contract left a typo in article iii, subsection b. Now to more _important_ matters.”

Lena stared at her best friend, a mixture of impressed and exasperated. Not for the first time she was grateful Sam decided to leave Spheerical Industries and join her in moving across the country.

“And what more important matters did you have in mind?” Lena continued eating her salad with a quick glance at her watch. She had a conference call to Japan in 20 minutes.

“Vacation Lena! Come on I’ve been emailing you nonstop about this for weeks.”

“I really hope one of those emails include the full Lord Tech report.”

“Forget about L Corp business for a second and think about yourself for once.” Sam and Lena had been having this conversation with increasing frequency in the last few weeks. 

“You finally admitted that you and Jack were really _really_ over-”

“Me and Jack have been over for 5 months-”

“Exactly! And you finally admitted it to yourself _2 weeks ago_.”

Lena rolled her eyes and sat back on the couch.

“L Corp is _thriving_ and has been for the last several quarters. You deserve to take a break. You haven’t even had a full weekend in years. You’re newly… ish single and I haven’t seen you inside a bar since before Lex got arrested.”

Lena glanced at her watch again, more out of avoidance of the conversation at hand than for actual concern over time. She looked back at Sam who was staring at her with firm eyes, sweet potato fries forgotten on the coffee table.

Lena’s arguments were dwindling in strength the more Sam confronted her about it. The truth is she’d been craving a break. L Corp was doing great and Lena was trying to put more effort into having a social life. Especially now that Jack was- was _dating_ again. That phone conversation was a smack in the face she should have seen coming from miles away. But denial was a powerful thing.

Lena opened her mouth to reply, unsure if a concession or a rebuttal was going to come out when Jess poked her head into her office.

“I’m sorry Miss Luthor but Mr. Yamimoto requested to move up the call a few minutes. I can tell him to honor the agreed upon time if you need me to.”

“No that’s fine Jess, it’d be silly of me to turn him away for just a few minutes.”  
“Okay, he’s on line 1 whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you Jess.”

Jess nodded and headed back to her desk.

“You’ve somehow managed to weasel out of this conversation again.” Sam was chuckling and packing up their leftovers. “What, do you have a ‘Jess come interrupt immediately’ button somewhere on this couch?”

Lena smiled and stood up with Sam. She drew her best friend into a hug just as they got to the door of her office.

“Of course not Samantha. She just has impeccable timing,” she said pulling away with a wink.

“This isn’t over,” Sam called over her shoulder as she walked out. “You pay me good money because of how tenacious I can be.”

“I thought I paid you to bring me food?” Lena shut the door, cutting off Sam’s sure to be affronted response. 

 

\--

 

Lena and Jack, Jack and Lena. Two sides of the same coin once upon a time. From the obnoxious prep schools they went to in Metropolis, to the halls of MIT, to the bowels of the LuthorCorp labs. Where one was the other wasn’t far off. Except for that one semester in high school they were forcibly separated for causing too many unsupervised explosions in the state of the art labs. 

It made sense when they started dating junior year of college, after Lena broke a few hearts in her dorm building and Jack made his way through their robotics team. The transition from best friends to lovers and everything in between came as easy as everything else in their relationship. They were both comfortable in their bisexuality, both comfortable with each other’s families -a feat with Lillian turning her nose at any and every boy or girl Lena brought home-, and in their third year of undergrad, they were both confident that what they had was forever. Their experiences, their triumphs, their pitfalls were all tied up in each other. They graduated college and grad school together, they made their first LuthorCorp prototype together. They had plans to take over the bio engineering and tech fields together.

Then Lex was arrested.

Lex Luthor had inadvertently aided in several terrorist attacks concentrated in Metropolis. When his involvement became apparent, so did his unethical business practices. 

With Lionel gone, and Lillian utterly uninterested, the company fell to Lena to rebuild and repair. 

Jack had tried talk her out of it. There were older, more seasoned CEOs ready and available to deal with the calamity, he reasoned. But his arguments fell on mostly deaf ears. Regardless he promised he’d be there through anything. 

Anything came to involve constant death threats and attacks on her life, investors dropping like flies from Luthorcorp, and the mounting debts Lex had accumulated.

Lena was run ragged that first year. In the midst of that, Jack was dealing with the demise of his own father and the call for him to head up Spheerical Industries. 

Then Lena made the ultimate decision to move her company to National City. The fight they had that night had been epic. Though granted it was much more than her moving cross country and they both knew it. Lena had thrown another microscope at his head that night, albeit a decorational one.

But the love they shared was supposed to be enough. They were supposed to be forever. That was the reasoning behind thee decision to continue their relationship though the foundations had already started to crack.

Lena moved and convinced her best friend Sam to leave her position at Spheerical with the promise of the West Coast, sunshine, & a promotion. 

So in a few years they turned LuthorCorp into the triumphant L Corp and Lena started to loosen the reins a little bit. But once she had the room in her life to turn her attention back to her relationship it was too late. She hadn’t even noticed the Skype dates and lunchtime phone calls had dwindled to nothing. She had only flown back to Metropolis once in the first year since she’d been gone. Both her and Jack had meetings to attend that trip, neither able to make time to see the other.

But Lena was an expert at denying problems in her personal life. So when she was finally able to go see Jack without the restrictions of meetings and deadlines, a full year and a half since she moved to National City, she didn’t expect the kiss she went to give him upon entering his apartment to connect with his bearded cheek.

“Lena,” Jack’s voice was warm but his small smile did not reach his eyes. 

“Jack,” Lena replied, slightly taken aback at his subtle rejection.

“How was your flight?” He asked as he pulled her bag into the apartment and ushered her to the couch. “I’m so sorry I would’ve went to go pick you up but I had an emergency meeting with R&D-”

“Jack it’s fine don’t worry about it. Trust me I get it.” She looked at him still hovering near the couch she had just sat down in but not coming any closer to her.

“Jack,” she said lowly, apprehension starting to creep in. “Please come sit with me, you’re acting like we don’t even know each other.”

“Do we?” Jack asked under his breath before sitting about a foot from Lena, staring at his knees.

Lena stared at him, the grip of apprehension fully taking hold, making her chest tight and her breath shallow. 

“Jack wha-” she cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and pushed her shoulders back, her new CEO mask settling firmly into place in the face of the conversation to come.

“If you have something to say to me I would rather you get on with it,” she said to him, head up, eyes carefully blank but piercing. 

Jack finally looked up from what had to be the most fascinating knees on planet earth and fixed her with an incredulous stare.

“See Lena! This! This- I don’t even know who you are!” He finished by brandishing his arm at her.

She raised a single eyebrow in response to his gesturing.

“You flew across the country in a $4,000 powersuit. You couldn’t even stomach the thought of flying in jeans before. I’m looking at you and- And I’m not even sure who I’m looking at anymore.” He finished his tirade by slumping back on his couch. Well, as much as he could in his own Armani business suit.

Lena’s stance didn’t change. In fact, aside from the eyebrow raise she hadn’t moved at all. Inside, her heart was racing. She felt like it was about to freeze and beat right out of her chest at the same time. Because when Jack finally looked at her, before he even said a word, she knew. Something had shifted between them, long before she ever booked a ticket to Metropolis. The Jack and Lena from before had at some point stopped growing together and instead grew very much apart. It was almost ironic considering how similar their suits were. And from the quick glance around his apartment she took when she walked in, it was decorated with the same impersonal precision that hers used to have before Sam basically dragged her to a boutique that according to her was “like Pottery Barn but BETTER!”

She couldn’t see the Jack she knew under the full beard and perfectly pressed suit.

“You’re right,” she practically exhaled. She relaxed her shoulders and dropped her mask. It had no place here. Not in this moment. “I don’t even know how to be around you anymore,” she said lowly.

Jack sat back up at her admission. Lena Luthor admitting he was right was a monumental affair in any setting.

“Sorry what was that? Did Lena Luthor just say that I was right?” ask asked, slightly in disbelief.

She tried to smile at him and his attempt to lighten the atmosphere. But in that moment everything she failed to notice in her dogged pursuit of redemption was coming to her attention. Before planning this trip she hadn’t had a proper conversation with Jack in weeks. She had no idea what was going on in his life. This man who she once couldn’t go a night without talking to had somehow become an afterthought. And vice versa. 

Jack had no idea what was going on with her in National City. He didn’t know what she did at night to get to sleep, or that she has a favorite farmer’s market that she recently has been trying to go to every few Saturdays. He doesn’t know how she unwinds after a tough work day, or that her favorite sick day pick me up is the little Italian cafe down the block from the apartment. He doesn’t even know her favorite assistant’s name.

“We haven’t been in a relationship for months.” Jack let out a sad chuckle at the sullen awe in her voice.

“No, love. We haven’t,” he leaned forward and took her hand.

“I don’t- When did this happen??” She squeezed his fingers as if the answers would leak out of them.

“I don’t know. Things have been messed up for some time, I think. Possibly even before we lived an entire country away from each other.”

Lena just stared at him. Trying to see through the changes, through the distance between them apparent even sitting mere inches away on a couch.

“I love you,” she told him. And she did. Even this version of him that she wasn’t familiar with. She knew she would love him forever, in some way. But the words didn’t bring the same comfort and reassurance it once had.

He gave her the first smile that actually reached his eyes. “I love you too, Lena. But I think, at least for now, trying to maintain this relationship isn’t in either of our best interests. Your life is in National City. You deserve to be able to live your life out there fully without the shadow of a stranger lingering in Metropolis.

She leaned into him, finally letting go of his possibly bruised fingers. Her forehead found purchase on the lapel of his suit.

“Wisdom isn’t a good look on you,” she mumbled into the fabric.

Jack laughed loudly then said, “No but how about the suit? The suit is nice right?”

Lena pulled back from him, a genuine smile on her face. 

“You were my best friend before you were anything else you know.” 

Jack smiled softly at her. “I know,” he said while brushing a perfectly straightened piece of hair away from her face.

“And you’ll be my best friend after all of this. You promised no take backs when we were 14, don’t think I forgot,” she reminded him as she laid her head back on his chest.

Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, laughing softly in her ear.

 

\--

 

“I really don’t think I can afford to drop everything and go gallivanting across the world with you Samantha,” Lena said barely sparing her best friend a glance.

“Okay first off you wouldn’t just drop everything. That’s why you pay Jess the big bucks! The greatest assistant in a century would never let you go anywhere without your ducks in a row.”

Lena looked up from the papers on her desk to Sam sitting at the edge of the couch leaning towards her.

“And second, ‘gallivanting across the world’? I knew you had a flair for the dramatic but come on. We don’t even have to leave the state of California.” She got up from the couch and made her way to one of the chairs in front of Lena’s desk, hoping proximity would drive the point home. 

A year or two ago Lena would’ve just given Sam a blank look and went straight back to her papers.

This is progress.

“Okay.”

Sam perked up, part of her wasn’t expecting Lena to acquiesce despite how meticulously she’d been trying to break her down. 

“Okay?!” 

“...”

“Lena!”

“Hmm..” Lena had returned to the contracts in front of her, she couldn’t resist the urge to mess with her friend just a little.

“Did I just hear you say yes to a break? Like a genuine, tell Jess to clear your schedule, VACATION!” Sam was standing now, leaning over Lena’s desk trying to catch her eyes.

Lean looked up quickly after Sam’s outburst. “Samantha may I remind you that this is a place of work.”

“Right yeah sure whatever, you own the company. If you can’t yell in your office who can?”

“Despite the fact that _you_ were in fact doing the yelling?” Lena asked dryly.

“Semantics,” Sam replied, cheeky as ever. 

Lena sighed and let out a small chuckle. She finally put the papers down and looked up at her friend.

“Yes Sam, I agree to go on a _short_ vacation. I’ll have Jess look up some suitable resorts just outside the city for a few nights and-”

“Few nights? Just outside the city? Lenaaaa…” Sam plopped back in the chair she was in before exasperatedly. “That’s not a vacation. It’s an excuse to get me to shut up.”

“It is not!”

Sam just gave her a dry look and sat up in her seat. “I already have the perfect place in mind. A friend of mine opened up a small resort not too long ago and she’s had an open invitation for me since it opened. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to accomodate you. It’s gorgeous and it offers the kind of privacy I know you’re obsessed with.” 

“Sam...”

“It’s called the Sanctuary and-”

“The Sanctuary? Well that’s right on the nose isn’t it...”

“And it’s still in California so you’d only be a quick Red Eye away from L Corp if anything drastic happens,” Sam continued as if never interrupted. “Which I doubt it will because seriously Lena,” she softened her tone and reached for Lena’s hand across the desk. “You’ve turned this company into a well oiled machine. It is officially known as a force for good. You deserve time for yourself, okay?” She finished her little impromptu speech with a squeeze to Lena’s hand and a gentle smile.

Lena looked at Sam, eternally grateful for the day they met. Her and Jack had been trying to sneak alcohol from A Spheerical Industries Christmas party. Sam had caught them giggling as they made their way to Jack’s dad’s office, content to hide away and get wasted together. She was fresh off of an MBA program at Metropolis U but instead of reporting the boss’ son and his best friend like new employees were want to do, she just smirked and showed them where they kept the nice glasses in the break room.

“Okay,” Lena said softly, giving Sam’s hand a squeeze back before withdrawing. “I’ll go under one condition.”

“And what’s that,” Sam asked, already getting excited again.

“My CFO comes with me,” Lena said with a wink. “You’ve worked just as hard right alongside me Sam. So if I have to take a trip, so do you.”

“Oho! CEO and CFO out of the office at the same time? Are you _trying_ to send us into ruin??” Sam smirked at the eyeroll Lena sent her way.

“I’ve already changed my mind.”

“Ha ha, okay okay, I know when I’m starting to push my luck. Look at at least one of those emails I sent you.” Sam came around the desk and dropped a quick kiss on Lena’s head before heading out of the office. “All the information on the resort should be there. I maaay have already told them to expect the both of us. This’ll be fun! Kay love you bye!”

Lena couldn’t help but smile at her best friend's antics. She sighed and pulled her laptop towards her, typing “The Sanctuary” into the search bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

“But I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more! Just to be th-”

“Okay! I tried and no just no.”

Alex repeatedly jammed her finger into the touch screen of their rental car, trying to shut off the music blasting through the car speakers. They were on their fourth listen and she was just about ready to throw herself out of the window.

“You promised we could test the theory! We can’t quit now!” Kara started reaching towards the media console, intent to turn it back on.

“Kara Danvers if you turn that song back on I’m going to throw your phone out the window.” 

Kara pouted at her sister and clutched her phone to her chest with one hand. Her other hand was still hovering near the media console.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Alex took her eyes off the road and fixed her sister with a glared. Kara squinted back with a challenge in her eyes.

“...”

“...”

“Alex watch the road geez!” Kara reached for the wheel just as Alex stealthily grabbed her phone out of her hands.

“Aha!” With a few quick swipes she turned on her favorite podcast and dropped the phone into the slot by the side of her door. “We only have an hour left in this drive and I don’t intend to go insane in that time.” 

“And what about my sanity?? This podcast is boooring.” Kara pouted again and sat back in her seat. All she wanted to do was test if the song really did cycle in tolerability like it did in How I Met Your Mother.

“You lost the rights to your sanity when you decided to play that song.”

“You agreed!”

“And then I changed my mind!”

Kara huffed and crossed her arms. Suddenly she smiled wide and sat up in her seat.

“I spy with my little eyes..”

“KAraaaaaa!”

\--

An hour later they were driving through the welcome gate leading into The Sanctuary. The resort was situated against the backside of a mountain with different buildings and facilities peppered throughout the trees and on either side of the winding road they were on. Kara was practically leaning outside of the car trying to take everything in as they drove. Alex had to remind her to take notes for her article several times.

They drove through the other side of the mountain when they were coming in and there wasn’t much of a view so when the trees opened up to a breathtaking view of the coast, even Alex couldn’t contain an audible gasp.

“The the main restaurant is also in this building!”

Alex was pulling both her and Kara’s rolling bags through the lobby doors as Kara was too preoccupied with her nose stuck in a tri-fold piece of paper.

“Of course that’s the first thing you pick out from the brochure.” 

She nearly bumped into her sister since Kara had stopped suddenly, practically vibrating as she took in the lobby.

The lobby was beautiful. The room was expansive and circular in shape with a waterfall centerpiece that cut through the floor and into the level below them, presumably into the dining area. 

Alex nudged her sister towards one of the many check out counters, the resort was overwhelmingly beautiful but she had been driving for way too many hours and she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before.

Check in was simple, they received a map to go with their brochure and a VIP card courtesy of Cat(Grant)Co. Their only hiccup came when Kara nearly insisted on taking the short hike to their suite instead of catching one of the many trams. A quick elbow pinch from Alex got her to finally concede.

“Holy cannoli!” Kara was enamored with every inch of the resort so far and their suite was no exception. It opened up into the living area with floor to ceiling windows facing the beach.

“This is bigger than both of our apartments combined Alex.” Kara twirled into the middle of the living space, arms spread wide and a large smile on her face. 

“Mmm,” Alex hummed non-committedly, spotted one of the rooms, dropped her bags by the door, and promptly face planted into the bed.

Kara dropped her arms and rolled her eyes in her sisters’ direction. She didn’t know what Alex was doing all last night but she picked her up this morning with her eyes half closed, guzzling a triple espresso. And she still wouldn’t let Kara drive.

Kara wasn’t sleepy at all. The sun was just beginning to set and she was buzzing with energy.

So after pulling off Alex’s shoes for her, she decided to do a little exploring. Or get some food. Get some food and then do a little exploring. The building that their suite was housed offered room service along with breakfast lunch and dinner downstairs but the main building is where all the fancy signature food was served and Kara wanted to take the VIP card for a test run.

She grabbed her map and her notepad and took a quick walk back to the main building.

Her head was tucked deep into the map, trying to decide if she should venture out to the beach or try and convince Alex to go on one of the scheduled nighttime cave tours, when she bumped quite forcefully into someone.

“Ohh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you and then there was the map, which isn’t an excuse! I just- Lena Luthor?” Kara stopped her word vomit just in time to catch a perfect eyebrow raise coming from the one and only Lena Luthor. Lena. Luthor. Here. Not in National City. In a freaking sarong! Aaand she had been staring at her mouth open for 15 seconds.

Lena took pity on her and decided to speak, snapping Kara out of whatever trance she slipped into. “I’m sorry I don’t think we’ve met?”

Kara let out an honest to God shiver. The cameras and microphones that normally captured Lena Luthor did a great disservice to the woman standing in front of her. Her voice was like literal velvet.

Kara pulled herself together enough to speak and hopefully not be considered inept.. “No, no,” she chuckled lightly and adjusted her glasses. “I work for CatCo Magazine. I was actually supposed to interview you a few weeks ago.”

“CatCo?” Lena quickly shifted her gaze slightly to the left behind Kara. “I didn’t realize this was the kind of place that attracted media types.”

Kara’s smile dimmed a little at the slightly cold tone Lena was giving her. “No I- I’m just here on vacation… sort of.” She grimaced at the little white lie. “I’ve been a fan of your work for some time though.” Something about Lena Luthor had some part of Kara craving her approval and she did a little internal happy dance when Lena flashed a genuine smile at her.

“Hey so Evan said that Nick and Rachel are already set up in the lounge for us,” someone was saying as she brushed past Kara from behind. “So the big question is lobster or sushi? Oh, who’s your friend?”

Kara looked towards the tall woman who had just draped her arms across Lena’s shoulders. The familiarity they obviously shared twinged something inside her.

Kara gave the newcomer a brief smile, “Kara Danvers, I was just heading into the dining area. I’m sorry again Miss Luthor.” Kara hastily made her way past the duo and into the restaurant’s double mahogany doors.

Maybe the food would distract her from the uncomfortable feeling in her chest.

 

\----

 

“She was cute!” Sam looked down at Lena & twiddled her eyebrows.

But the look went unnoticed as Lena was still looking after where the blonde disappeared through the doors.

Sam dropped her arm from Lena’s shoulder and snapped a finger in her face. “Lena!”

Lena blinked and fixed her best friend with a dry stare. “Sushi,” she said before turning her heel and heading towards the private elevators.

Sam just smirked and followed. This vacation just got interesting.

 

\----

 

The CEO and CFO of L Corp had touched down on the helipad on the roof earlier that morning. They were immediately greeted by a handsome young man. Nicholas Young, Sam’s longtime friend and owner of the resort.

“Samantha Arias as I live and breathe!” Nicholas pulled Sam into a giant bear hug, twirling her around once before setting her down.

“Nick it’s been too long!” She smoothed down her shirt and turned to her best friend. “This is-”

“Lena Luthor, it’s a great pleasure to have you join us here at The Sanctuary.” Nick took Lena’s offered hand, gave her a small bow, and kissed the back of it. 

“The pleasure is mine, Mr. Young.”

“Please don’t let his faux charm woo you. He’s an absolute bastard.” The teasing tone in Sam’s voice bellied the sharpness of her words. 

“Ha! You wound me!” He leaned towards Lena to mutter conspiratorially, “But my wife Rachel would probably agree.” He let out another laugh and ushered them to the private elevators that went directly from the helipad to the lobby.

“I wasn’t expecting you to meet us here directly Nick, we would’ve managed just fine.”

“Nonsense! My mother would never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t personally welcome THE Lena Luthor into the resort. She’s a huge fan of yours,” he added with a wink at Lena.

Lena blushed. She knew exactly who Eleanor Sung-Young was and was surprised at the compliment.

“I wasn’t aware that Eleanor was interested in tech.”

 

“We both know L Corp does much more than tech. In fact if you weren’t on vacation she’d probably personally fly in from Singapore to talk your ear off about investing.”

Lena’s interest piqued even more at that. The Young family being interested in L Corp was not only surprising but also very much welcome. The possibilities that kind of partnership would offer… Lena could only imagine.

“I could give you my assistant Jess’s number and we could set something up if-”

“Oh no, no no no no. No work Lena!” Sam stepped up from where she was leaning at the back of the elevator and in between Lena and Nick. “We will not be spending the next few weeks discussing business with Eleanor Sung-Young.”

“Few weeks?!” Lena blinked, incredulous.

“And you!” She turned with a finger pointed at Nick. “Don’t get her started. It was like pulling teeth trying to get her out of the L Corp building.”

It was true. Lena insisted on going into the office that morning before their flight to “check up on some things”. That ended up taking 3 hours.

Nick just chuckled with his hands up while Lena was still spinning at Sam’s mention of a “few weeks”. She thought this would be a few days, one week at the most.

Lena fixed Sam with a look that very clearly said “what the hell?”. 

Lucky for Sam the elevator doors opened at that moment and they were greeted with a gorgeous view of the lobby.

Even Lena was momentarily distracted by the elaborate waterfall centerpiece that anchored to entire building. 

“Phew, not bad Nicholas...” Sam gave Nick’s shoulder a pat on her way out of the elevator.

“I’ll tell Rachel you approved. This entire lobby was her brainchild,” Nick said with a fond smile at the mention of his wife.

“It’s quite lovely Mr. Young. I’m very much looking forward to staying here.” Lena cast a quick glance and a raised eyebrow at Sam who was steadfastly looking away from her.

“Just Nick, please. Now Evan here-” Nick gestured towards a slight man with a wispy goatee who had just stepped up to the edge of the elevator bank. “-should be able to help you get settled into your suites. You guys are set up in one of our private buildings just up the road. Your bags have already arrived and should be awaiting you.” 

“Thank you for everything Nick, really. I’m sure we will have a lovely stay.”

Sam stepped closer and pulled Nick into a another hug. “Yeah, thanks Nick. Your mom would be proud.”

“If you need absolutely anything,” he pulled out a card from his inner pocket and handed it to Lena, “My personal number is on there as well as Evan’s. Don’t hesitate to call either of us.” He gave them both a warm smile before starting to walk off.

“Oh and please join Rachel and I in our private lounge for dinner tonight. She will be so excited to see you, Sam.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t miss it.” Sam looped her arm around Lena’s and pulled her in close.

Nick gave them one last smile and walked away.

Lena pulled her arm away and turned to Sam with an accusation on the tip of her tongue.

“Ladies, if you would please follow me.” Evan was looking at them expectantly and Lena resigned herself to yell at Sam later.

\--

Evan guided them to their individual suites and gave them each a quick tour of the facilities. They would be staying in a building nestled amongst the trees and located near one of the private beaches at the bottom of the mountain. The building housed four suites and a private dining area complete with staff. There was also a gym area, laundry, and a rooftop patio.

Lena was used to a certain level of luxury due the her upbringing and privilege that being a Luthor brought her, but even she was taken aback by the sheer decadence the place was offering. The view from her bedroom alone had her seriously considering moving L Corp to the coast.

A sense of tranquility settled over Lena as she stood on her balcony and looked over at the ocean. For the first time in years she felt like she could truly relax. The feeling was foreign enough to briefly put her on edge but it was ebbing away the longer she stared at the waves rhythmically washing up the sand and receding.

“Hey.”

Lena turned to see Sam leaning on the glass doors leading to the balcony.

She turned around back towards the waves before saying, “I hope you know I’m still angry with you.”

“I was hoping the view would aid in my forgiveness.” Sam stepped up next to her best friend and put a hand on her shoulder.

Lena sighed and leaned into Sam. “I don’t think I could even stay mad at Lex with this view.”

Sam chuckled and tightened her arm more surely around her best friend’s shoulder. 

“Still, I wasn’t anticipating being away from L Corp for _weeks_. Jess will be-”

“Jess already knows. She’s well prepared to handle things until you get back. Honestly that woman is a godsend. Where can I get myself a Jess?”

Truth be told, Lena couldn’t imagine anything better than being out here for a few weeks. Or a few lifetimes. Any argument she had had almost completely washed away when she stepped onto the balcony.

“Okay.” Lena pulled away from Sam and leaned her hip on the balcony rail. “So what now?”

“Figures you’d need instruction on how to relax, lucky for you I’m somewhat of an expert.”

Lena just rolled her eyes and waited for Sam to continue.

“So! For your introduction into the fine art of relaxing, we’re going to the beach.”

“The beach?” Lena raised a patented eyebrow and crossed her arms. She was expecting something more elaborate like a hike followed by a nighttime cave tour or something.

“Yep. You clearly have to ease into things so I thought we’d keep it simple and eat up the remaining sunlight hours amongst the waves and white sand. Then we can meet up with Nick and Rachel for dinner. He texted me that the attire is ‘beach casual’, which is totally a thing by the way, so we don’t even have to change.” She gave Lena a bright smile and headed back inside. “I’m gonna head back to my own suite to change and then we can head out in an bit,” she called over her shoulder.

Lena sighed and turned fully towards the beach again. She felt better than she had in years and it’d only been a few hours since they touched down. A small smile made its way to her face and it grew until she was containing a laugh. Light. She felt light. And it was incredible. Something in the back of her mind told her this trip was going to be a turning point and she was right on the precipice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Rachel are from Crazy Rich Asians if anyone was wondering.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

“Alex!” Kara walked into her suite holding a doggie bag from the restaurant. She was hoping her sister would have woken up from her nap by the time she returned home, but upon a quick glance around the dark living area, she determined Alex was probably still face planted in bed - seconds away from suffocating. 

Stopping to flip on the light in the kitchenette, Kara made her way to Alex’s chosen room and found her almost exactly as she left her, completely dead to the world. 

She tip-toed her way to the side of the bed that Alex was practically falling off of and dangled the food bag in front of her nose.

“Aaaalllleeexxx, I brought fooooood.” Her sister might not be the food connoisseur she was, but she definitely appreciated a perfectly done steak like the one enclosed in the bag. 

Alex suddenly popped one eye open and blearily focused it on the bag in front of her. “That better be a medium rare steak drenched in butter,” she mumbled. 

“Even better, a medium rare _Kobe beef_ filet mignon, still hot.”

Alex sprung upright on the bed, nearly dislodging the bag from Kara’s hand. 

“KOBE BEEF?! Kara what the fuck??”

Kara just gave her a big smile and started walking out of the room. In her haste to follow, Alex ended up tangling herself up in the sheets and dropping to the floor. Kara chuckled at the thump she heard as she made her way to the dining table. Serves her right for falling asleep and wasting the day. 

Sleeping Beauty stumbled her way to the table and sat down heavily in front of the plate Kara set up. “I heard you say you say _Kobe beef_ right?” she whispered out reverently, staring down at the meal in front of her. 

“Yep! Straight from _Le Sanctuaire_.”

“How much was this?”

“I uh… don’t know?”

Alex blinked up at the blonde standing on the other side of the table looking slightly sheepish but mostly unapologetic. 

Kara shrugged and looked down at the table. “The VIP card works I guess.”

“Cat Grant was really in love with you, huh?”

“Alex! Oh my god, she was _not_!”

“Uh huh, hand me a fork will you?”

Kara gave her some cutlery from inside the bag and sat down in the seat across from her.

After a few reverent bites and one “Holy shit that’s amazing” later, Kara couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“So I ran into Lena Luthor in the lobby.” She went for nonchalant and ended up with a more breathless, somewhat eager tone.

Alex paused mid bite and opened her eyes for the first time since she started eating. 

“Lena Luthor?”

Kara nodded quickly.

“She’s not the kind of person you just ‘run into’, Kar. I don’t think she’s even been photographed outside of either Metropolis or National City in years.”

“I know it was surreal seeing her not in business clothes. She was actually in a sarong. You know those like wrap things? And her skin was sort of glowing… and her eyes had this spark… I’ve seen her in pictures and on tv and stuff but she was just... and her hands-”

“Kara!”

The blonde snapped back up from where she had slouched in her seat, lost in thoughts of Lena Luthor. It was the same at the restaurant. For the first time in as long as she could remember she couldn’t even focus on her food.

And now Alex was looking at her like she was sprouting turnips from her ears.

“Anyways she was nice. Well after she realized I wasn’t trying to ambush her for an interview. She’s here with her partner… I think…” Kara trailed off at the end, suddenly remembering that Lena wasn’t alone and was in fact accompanied by a very handsome and tall woman.

“Business partner?” Alex quirked her eyebrow and returned to her steak.

“I’m not sure. They looked pretty… close.”

“I’m surprised she’s vacationing at all, let alone a romantic getaway. She didn’t even do that when she was involved with Jack Spheer.”

Kara ignored the way her chest twinged at ‘romantic getaway’, her curiosity winning out over her discomfort. “Who’s Jack Spheer? And why do you know so much about Lena Luthor?”

“I checked out the file the FBI opened on her when she moved to National City.”

Kara pouted and crossed her arms. “L Corp has done nothing but good since she took over. She’s nothing like-”

“Kara I know, it was a few years ago. The case has been closed.”

“Well good, because she-”

First Cat Grant now Lena Luthor, you have a thing for powerful women huh, sis?”

Kara spluttered and started fidgeting with her glasses. “I don’t- I don’t have a thing for Lena Luthor. She just- I was supposed to interview her and- and I admire her… her business sense…”

Noticing how red faced and panicked her sister started to look, Alex took pity on her and grabbed the hand that was still on the table, pushing the plate with the finished steak to the side.

“Hey, hey! Kara look at me.”

Kara looked up from the table and gulped.

“You don’t have to hide anymore Kar, it’s okay to feel things like this out in the open.”

Kara’s shoulders sagged. She was both unaware and acutely aware of the old habit she had slipped into like a second skin. She wasn’t entirely able to discern any distinct feelings for Lena Luthor, but the mere suggestion threw her walls right back up in a knee jerk reaction.

Alex gave her a knowing smile and squeezed her hand. “I know it’s scary as hell and unfamiliar but just know that with me, you only have to be exactly who you are. I’ll never ask for anything more or anything less.”

A slow smile broke out across Kara’s face. She got up and made her way around the table to pull her sister into a hug. “Thanks, Alex,” she whispered.

“Anytime.” Alex gave her back a few rubs before pulling away. “Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be going back to sleep.”

Kara stood upright and put her hands on her hips. “Sleep?! You already slept the day away!”

“Hey if you wanted me to stay up you wouldn’t have fed me such a decadent meal,” Alex said as she brushed past her sister.

But Aaallleeexxx, there’s a nighttime cave tour in 30 minutes,” Kara whined, trailing behind.

Alex stopped at her room and turned around with one hand on the door and the other in the frame. “Give me tonight to recharge and tomorrow you can drag me to every activity you can think of.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so tired these days” Kara huffed and crossed her arms. “They can’t be working you that hard at the Bureau.”

Alex shifted her eyes away quickly before responding. “Just tonight, I promise okay? Okay love you goodnight!” With that she closed the door and Kara was left staring at a beautiful bamboo pattern.

With a huff and a grumble she went off in search for her brochure. She was gonna go on that tour with or without Alex. But just as she located the tri-fold piece of paper, her phone chimed in her pocket. It was the first email she’d received since arriving so she pulled her phone out expecting it to be Snapper requesting an update. 

She nearly dropped it when she realized the email was from James.

James had finally emailed her back and there wasn’t even a subject line. What did she expect it to say? RE: Remember when you ripped out my heart and lied to me for years? She grimaced at the thought and unlocked her phone, staring at the new message notification for 5 minutes before she clicked it.

 

_Kara,_

_I’m sorry for going so long without contacting you, I’m sure you were beating yourself up with worry. I just needed some time to understand what happened. That’s not exactly true. I understand perfectly what happened I just had to come to grips with it. First let me say that I am truly happy for you. All I’ve ever wanted for you was to be happy and I’m glad that now you finally get to be, authentically. I don’t want you to regret choosing to be free and I know that it took everything within you to do so. I’m proud of you, Kara. I can look past myself enough to understand that the way you came out had to be your worst case scenario and I don’t want to be a shadow in what was supposed to be a triumphant moment for you. So I forgive you, as much as I think you don’t need it, I know you and I know you’re holding on to a guilt that isn’t yours to hold. I love you, I always will. I want you to be happy, and I’m comforted in knowing that now you’ve given yourself a real shot at it. Take care of yourself, and I’ll see you when you get back._

_Yours,_

_James._

 

Kara reread the message 17 times, almost committing it to memory. She almost cried at the sheer relief she was feeling. She tried to move past how much the situation was still weighing on her and now, now she felt a thousand times lighter. She didn’t realize she had actually started crying until tears started dropping on her phone screen. Wiping her eyes and rereading the message one last time, she made her way to the balcony. 

She looked out at the beach and took a deep breath, releasing everything on the exhale. It finally felt like things would be fine between her and James eventually. She’d been mourning the loss of a great friendship more than anything. She truly did care for him even if she couldn’t love him the same way he loved her and hurting him had taken a toll on her, hence the impromptu vacation she was currently on. Now she could actually start to enjoy it.

A nighttime beach stroll was starting to look more appealing than the cave tour. The message from James left her feeling simultaneously light and drained. But she also couldn’t remain inside, the urge to move was overwhelming. Luckily she had access to a private beach designated to the building that housed their suite.

Kara moved to the room she had yet to settle into and changed into some shorts and a tank top. After a second thought she decided to grab one of her thicker cardigans. She usually ran hot, and the weather had been fairly summer appropriate but ocean winds could be tricky.

She slipped on her flip flops, grabbed the room key, and headed out the door.

 

—

 

Lena found herself back on the beach her and Sam lounged on earlier that day after dinner with Nick and Rachel. They talked and laughed and she enjoyed the easy friendship the old friends shared and extended to her. It was one of the best evenings she’d had in a while. Throughout all that, however, her mind kept returning to a certain blonde reporter. Kara Danvers of CatCo magazine. It wasn’t just that the blonde was stunning, Lena had met her fair share of stunning women, it was that she couldn’t shake the pull she inexplicably felt towards her. They had spoken for less than two minutes and yet Lena hadn’t been able to rid herself of blue eyes and a charming smile. 

It was irksome truth be told. 

What was so special about Kara Danvers? Was it her broad shoulders? The clear definition poking through her arm sleeve? The genuine smile that immediately melted her cold visage? Her impossibly blue eyes? Hair she just wanted to run her fingers through. Or pull…

Oh my god she really needed to stop. It’s been like this all day and it was driving her mad.

Even Sam noticed when they were having a glass of wine on her patio after dinner.

“Okay so what’s up with you?” Sam set her wine glass on the table next to the lounge chair she was reclining in. She sat up and leaned towards Lena who was, once again, staring off into space while twirling her glass. 

“Lena!” Sam snapped her finger in front of Lena after getting no response.

“Hmm?”

“Where _are_ you right now?”

Lena huffed and took a sip from her glass. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’ve been going over fake L Corp projections for 5 minutes and you haven’t so much as quirked an eyebrow.”

“I thought you said no work?”

“Exactly! And you didn’t even take the opportunity to mock me!”

“Samantha you’re being ridiculous.”

“And you’re ‘Samantha’-ing me so I know you’re evading the question.”

Lena just shot her best friend a look and took another sip of wine.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with the pretty blonde you were chatting up in the lobby would it?”

And there goes the wine, right down the wrong tube. Whoever designed the human throat owed Lena a sip of very expensive wine.

She spluttered and coughed while Sam thumped her back, looking not at all concerned but highly amused and borderline gleeful.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Oh my god Sam please shut up!” Lena got out when she finally calmed.

“What there’s nothing wrong with fantasizing about a seemingly very fit, hot blonde.” Sam wiggled her eyebrows and gave Lena a mischievous smirk. It made Lena debate the merits of throwing the remaining wine in her face. She settled for pushing her back into her own lounge chair instead.

“That is certainly _not_ what I was doing and I would appreciate it if you kept your lewd comments to yourself.”

“Ha! When have I ever?” she snorted. “But seriously Lena she was cute, and was totally into you too. What’s the point of vacation if you don’t have a little fun?”

“We spoke for less than two minutes, and you were present for less than half that. How could you possibly know she was interested?”

“Could be I have a sense for these things. Could be the brief glare of jealousy she gave me when I put my arm around you. Also super cute by the way.”

Lena just rolled her eyes and ignored the way her heart picked up speed a little.

Sam leaned closer to Lena again. “...So?”

“So what?”

“So are you going to embark on a little vacation romance??”

“Hardly…”

“And why not?”

“Why are you so invested in my love life? If I recall correctly I haven’t seen you go on a date since that… whatever it was with Veronica.”

“Ah Veronica Sinclair. She was… a lot,” Sam sighed wistfully. “But this isn’t about me it’s about you and your obvious chemistry with CatCo reporter Kara Danvers.”

“How did you know she was a reporter?”

Sam shrugged a little sheepishly. “I may have done a few discreet Googles while we were at dinner.”

“Sam!”

“What, I told you I have a sense about these things!”

Lena sighed again, wondering how she’s managed to survive a friendship with Samantha Arias for this long.

“Look it’s obvious you’re intrigued by her and I’m fairly sure she’s at least somewhat interested in you so what’s the problem?”

“Well for one I don’t exactly trust your ‘sense’ if it’s not business related,” Lena added an air quote for emphasis, thinking about that debacle with Veronica once again, “and two I didn’t come here looking for romance.”

“That’s the best kind! The unexpected, the unwarranted, the inevitable!”

“I think you’ve had too much wine.”

“Oh I absolutely have, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

Lena rolled her eyes for what felt like the twelfth time that night. She was tired of this conversation and annoyed that some part of her was receptive to Sam’s arguments. 

It must be the wine.

“Well I know when you’re about to shut down from a conversation so I’m gonna call it a night.” Sam got up and picked up the empty wine bottle and both of their glasses. “In the morning we can investigate how good the breakfast downstairs is.” She leaned down and dropped a kiss to the top of Lena’s head before heading back to her own suite. “Goodnight!” she called over her shoulder.

“Goodnight,” Lena mumbled under her breath.

She stared out towards the beach and suddenly had an overwhelming urge to be out on the sand. Hoping the waves would somehow clear her thoughts of blonde hair and blue eyes, she slipped on her shoes and made her way down. 

This… fixation was getting to be a bit much. She couldn’t remember a time when another person invaded her thoughts so completely and she was fighting and welcoming it at the same time. It was infuriating not being in control of her own mind. She was a certified genius for gods sake! Her mind was her sharpest tool. But one encounter with the literal human incarnation of the sun and she was, what? What was she? Infatuated? After a two minute conversation? She needed to get a grip.

She sat down on the sand next to a pre made fire pit. She should probably try to get a fire started but the moon and stars were bright enough out there that she didn’t think she would need it. Besides, this beach was only available to the inhabitants of the building she and Sam were in and she had yet to see any of the occupants of the other two suites. She didn’t think anyone would sneak up on her.

“Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t realize anyone was out here.”

Apparently she was wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

Lena stared at the blonde apparition standing behind her that she must have conjured up form her imagination. But the longer she stared the more she knew her imagination could never be this good.

Kara Danvers was standing, flip flops in her hand, toes digging into the sand, looking nothing short of ethereal in the moonlight.

“I thought this was a private beach?” Lena internally winced at the hint of accusation that colored her tone. Kara had caught her completely off guard and considering the turn her thoughts had been taking concerning said blonde, she was a little on edge.

Kara fiddled with her glasses and looked down at her toes before answering. “Um it is... I think. I’m pretty sure this is the beach designated to that building.” She vaguely gestured with her flip flops to the building they both knew stood somewhere behind them. “Maybe I got it wrong? Oh gosh I’m sorry this is probably the wrong beach.. I’m just gonna..” Kara made to turn and walk back the way she came before she was halted by a sharp,

“No!” Lena’s cheeks colored at her outburst. She really needed to get it together.

She cleared her throat and turned back around towards the waves before she said, “You didn’t get it wrong. I’m staying there as well. You’re just as authorized to be here as I am.” Authorized? What was wrong with her?

Kara stared at Lena’s back for a second longer before moving closer to the waves and sitting a respectable distance away. 

They sat in silence for a while longer, only slightly awkward, at least to Lena, because she was struggling not to turn and stare at the reporter sitting to her right.

Kara sighed, leaned back on her arms and stretched her legs out in front of her, the calm of the waves waves doing its job in removing the lingering stress over the James situation. 

How could Lena not look now? She drew up her legs to her chest and rested her cheeks on her knees, peeking through her hair at- oh god those legs…

Lena felt like a teenager with her first crush. She rolled her eyes at herself and lowered her legs to fold them under her body and drew herself up to the height of the 20 something year old CEO that she was. 

“So what brings a CatCo reporter out so far from National City?” she asked, part of her pleased with the small jump Kara gave at the sound of her voice. 

“Oh uh..” Kara drew up her own legs in almost an exact mirror to Lena’s previous position. “I’m here on official business technically. Cat wants to revamp our vacation column so she sent me out here to… um.. write an article on this resort.” She shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Lena quirked an eyebrow. Even in the dark she could tell Kara’s cheeks were reddening. “I didn’t know Cat Grant was in the habit of sending reporters on work vacations.”

“She’s not!” Kara winced and looked down at her hand drawing nonsense in the sand. “Or well, she doesn’t usually. I guess I wasn’t of much use in National City lately anyways so…”

“So she sent you to get your shit together instead of firing you.”

Kara let out a quick laugh at the unexpected curse. “Yeah she’s- Cat is kind of unpredictable and our relationship is… interesting.” Kara quickly backtracked at the look Lena was giving her. “Not like that! She was my mentor for some time. Even though Alex thinks she was in love with me. Which is absurd really-”

“Alex?”

“My sister. She came with me actually, she just hasn’t been the best vacation companion yet.” She pouted at the reminder that Alex was upstairs sleeping through an all expense paid vacation.

“I know what you mean, Sam has been insufferable half the time.”

Kara deflated a little at the reminder that Lena was actually here with someone. 

“Yeah I remember her. She’s gorgeous. It must be nice to get away with your loved one every now and then,” she mumbled.

“This is my first vacation since before I left college actually.”

“What??”

Lena laughed and stretched her legs out again. “I was coerced into finally giving L Corp a break. And I dragged my CFO here with me so I sincerely hope the company isn’t crashing and burning in our absence.”

“You’re dating your CFO?”

Lena turned her head sharply to look at Kara’s confused face.

“Dating??”

“Yeah Sam? She’s the CFO you dragged with you right? I’m not judging of course! You guys seem super sweet. Though I don’t get why you would have to drag her with you. I’d willingly follow you anywhere.” Kara’s eyes quickly widened. “Well not _you_ you. Just my significant other. If I had one. Vacations! You know vacations are nice… To do… with loved ones..” Would the resort medical center perform a surgical procedure to remove the foot that was perpetually lodged in her mouth? She’d have to consult the brochure.

Lena for her part just stared at Kara, expression just shy of incredulous. The blonde was just about ready to cut her losses and bolt from the beach when Lena blinked and burst into laughter. She laid down on the sand, not even caring about any of it getting in her hair.

“Hey! What did I say?” Lena opened her eyes, a solid minute of laughter later, to find Kara much closer than she was before, leaning over her looking bewildered. That sobered her up quickly and she sat up, nearly busting Kara’s nose open in the process.

“Sam and I are definitely not dating,” Lena said softly, slightly out of breath and very affected by Kara’s proximity. Kara didn’t seem inclined to move either, even now that realization and embarrassment was dawning across her face. 

“Oh geez, I’m sorry I assumed you just looked so comfortable together, and you’d really make a handsome couple.” There’s no getting rid of that foot now. It’s a chronic condition. Incurable.

“Well thank you Kara, but trust me, there’s absolutely no sexual chemistry there.”

Kara seemed to realize their continued lack of space right around the same time the word “sexual” left Lena’s lips.

She scrambled backwards kicking up a little too much sand, embarrassed that she invaded Lena’s personal space like that. She didn’t even realize it at the time. Being close to Lena felt more natural than anything she’d done since coming out.

Lena watched her go, missing the warmth Kara brought but completely endeared to her clumsy getaway.

“Sorry. Again.”

“You seem to have a lot to apologize to me for Miss Danvers.”

Kara looked up and slightly relaxed at the teasing glint in Lena’s eyes. “Sorry- I mean..” She laughed softly at herself and rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s kind of hard to be around you.”

Lena’s whole body seemed to start buzzing at that statement. “Oh?”

“Yeah I mean, you’re this incredible CEO that’s almost single handedly changing the world and I’m just a lowly reporter who hasn’t written a single good article in weeks.”

Lena tamped that previous spark of… something down. Professional admiration. Of course that’s all it was.

“I would hardly call you a ‘lowly reporter’, Kara.” Sam wasn’t the only one that did her Googles at the dinner table.

Kara’s breath caught at the way her name slipped so casually from Lena’s lips. Just like that her own name held a new weight from the way it was caressed by Lena’s tongue. And now Kara was thinking about Lena’s tongue...

“You’ve read my articles?” Kara couldn’t suppress the awe in her voice. _Lena Luthor_ had read some of her work. Lena Luthor _said her name_ AND read her work. It’s official. Kara was very gay and very much crushing on the youngest Luthor. There was a little whooping sensation in her stomach from the non-realization. 

“Yes I was particularly enthralled with the expose you did on Morgan Edge, and not just for business reasons either. How did you get his assistant to give you access to that hard drive?”

Kara beamed and scooted a little bit closer to Lena, eager to discuss her breakthrough investigative journalism piece, and maybe impress her a little.

They talked for hours. Kara ended up lighting the fire pit and dropping her cardigan over Lena’s shoulders when she noticed her shiver. Lena didn’t have the heart to tell her that the shiver was from when Kara leaned over to pull something from her hair and not from the ocean breeze.

It was 3am before either realized how late it had gotten, with Kara apologizing profusely for keeping the CEO up and Lena just shaking her head and revelling in the softness of the taller woman’s hands when she helped her up. She could already imaging the shit eating grin Sam would be sporting if she saw her now. She was completely smitten with the reporter. Falling for a cute blonde on a beach. She was such a cliche. And she didn’t care. 

Kara was funny, and incredibly smart. She had a wit about her that peaked through her tendency to ramble. Lena found it hard to breathe when Kara would throw her head back and full on body laugh. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. It was unusual for Lena to fall so solidly for someone so quickly. It was either a quick carnal fix like in college or even with Jack it took years before she realized she harbored more than platonic feelings for him.

But with Kara it was like fighting against a force of nature. The idea of letting go and falling right off the precipice was exhilarating.

If only Kara wasn’t so painfully straight.

Throughout their conversation Lena peppered in some references that most women with sapphic tendencies would at least have a passing recognition of. With Kara all she got was an adorably confused nose crinkle at Lena’s expectant looks.

Lena had half a mind to just outright ask her, thoughts of her little comment about Cat Grant, and a voice that sounded very much like Sam’s reminding her of the alleged jealous vibes Kara was giving off earlier. But self preservation was one of Lena’s strong suits and she didn’t want to jeopardize this newly forming friendship by making Kara uncomfortable. 

So she kept it to herself and tried valiantly not to flirt. A herculean effort considering how, straight or not, Kara was a quick to blush and get flustered. It was so endearing that Lena couldn’t resist dropping her tone every now and then. She was torturing herself as much as she was teasing Kara honestly. 

Kara was in another dimension. It was the only explanation for how perfect this night went. She spent hours with Lena on the beach, making her laugh so hard she rolled on the sand _three times_. Kara couldn’t resist picking out a small shell from her hair after the second time. 

She felt like she was 13 again, before her life changed and she placed herself firmly in the restrictions of “normal”. Lena made her feel like she was flying. She could see the green in her eyes, even in the darkness of the night, and just feel free. What that meant she had no idea, and probably wasn’t ready to unpack yet. Figures she would come out of the closet and fall for the most unattainable woman on the planet. 

As Kara walked back to the building, she couldn’t help but sneak peaks at the literal goddess she still wasn’t entirely convinced she didn’t conjure up with her imagination. She resisted the urge to pinch herself repeatedly, the thought of Alex teasing her for being so uncool staying her hand.

They were almost to the building and Kara found herself slowing down slightly. Her suite was on the second floor so she knew their elevator ride would be a quick one. Her body was rejecting the idea of leaving Lena already. 

With minimal help from her feet, they made it into the building and onto the elevator.

“I can walk you to your door?”

“Kara don’t be absurd, you’re an entire two floors below me.” Lena punctuated her sentence with a squeeze to Kara’s arm, in no way aiding her will to leave.

“Right!” Kara said just as the elevator came to her floor. “Well this is me…”

Lena gave her gentlest smile before murmuring, “Goodnight Kara, I had the most amazing time tonight.” It sounded like the end of a date…

Date??

Was this a-

Kara somehow drug her feet through the molasses that surely coated the floor -why else would they feel so heavy- and stopped in the hallway, turning to look into the elevator.

Lena flashed the blonde another genuine smile with a glint of something in her eyes. Kara just stared back like someone who lost control of her motor functions as the door started to slide shut. Just as she was starting to lose sight of Lena, she thrust her arm through the slight gap and forced the door to bounce back open.

“Hey so breakfast?”

Lena’s smile deepened as she gave Kara an eyebrow raise. “I’ve heard it’s the most important meal of the day, what about it?”

“I’ll be going down at 9… I’ll see you there?”

“It’s a date,” Lena replied with a wink.

Kara beamed, “Cool..”

A few beats passed before Lena smirked and said, “I want to look at least somewhat presentable tomorrow. I think that means I should get to sleep sometime soon.” 

Kara blushed and removed her arm from where the door kept repeatedly bumping into it. “Right of course. Goodnight, Lena.”

“Goodnight, Supergirl.”

“I told you that nickname in confidence!” Kara whisper shouted to a quickly disappearing and laughing Lena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a shorter chapter but I needed these two to finally meet and I didn't want to add anything else to it.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
